Evaporative cooling systems utilize the cooling effect of evaporation to condition air inside homes, offices and businesses, as well as under awnings and roofs outdoors. Such systems function by drawing warm, dry air through a water laden pad. Such systems are generally very energy efficient, but since their cooling power is derived from the evaporating process, the water laden air must be generated and applied near the occupants to be cooled. This results in fans, filters, air handling units and the like being located near the occupants which can be noisy or other wise undesired. Also, such systems are difficult to add in on a retrofit basis. Accordingly, the need has been identified for an easy, alternate way of providing evaporative cooling in a localized area.
Several attempts have been made in the past to provide water-misting apparatuses. U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,501 in the name of Roach, et al. discloses a mister and an electric fan combination that is mounted upon a vertical stand. The mister has a housing arranged to define a curvature that is concentric with a rotational center of rotary fan blades and with the central back of the fan. The housing is attached to the fan guard grill. The mister has a flexible hose extending from a junction with the housing to a location distal from the housing to convey pressurized fluid from a source. The electric fan is pivotally connected on diametrically opposite sides to a connection structure, which is raised by a pole from a base structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,587,642 in the name of King discloses a ceiling fan cooling system comprising an A/C condenser unit, preferably mounted above/beyond the ceiling of a room, and an associated evaporator unit which is mounted in a housing on the inside of the ceiling or flush with the ceiling of the room. The evaporator unit draws room air in and blows it downwardly, over the evaporator coils, toward the blades of a conventional ceiling fan. The air is thus cooled by the evaporator coils and circulated throughout the room by the ceiling fan. The lower surface of the evaporator housing is configured to receive the mounting plate of a conventional off-the-shelf ceiling fan. The system may also be configured as a heating system, for example, using a heat pump or electrical heating elements incorporated into the evaporator housing, allowing the fan to blow air over them.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,868 in the name of Gautney describes a camouflaged outdoor fan system including a housing, a fan inserted into the housing, and a camouflaged lid removably connected to the housing. The housing is buried in the ground, or in alternative embodiment, mounted to the underside of a deck, the fan is inserted into the housing, and the camouflaged lid is placed over the fan to hide the fan and housing from view. The fan is operable to generate and propel an air stream out of the housing that can be used for cooling purposes. The system also may include optional features, such as a water-misting device, a heater, motion detectors, an evaporative cooling assembly, a temperature switch, a humidity switch, a rain gauge switch, a wind sensor switch, a dc power source, solar cells, or a remote control system.
None of the prior art particularly describes an easy, alternate way of providing evaporative cooling in a localized area. Accordingly, there is a need for an evaporative cooling system that utilizes the cooling effect of evaporation to condition air inside homes, offices and businesses, as well as under awnings and roofs outdoors.